Hi,I spend way to much money on coffee beans and lately I have been drawn to the concept of home roasting. I think it is a good way to get great coffee and save some money as well.. anyway, here is my situation/question..

I live in an apartment and have been told that an electric popcorn roaster might cover my whole floor in chafe.. something I am not interested in;)so I looked at stove top roasting with a popcorn pot ( he whierly pot to be more specific). That seemed like a cheap and good way for me to enter into the roasting community. The problem is, I have an induction stove top, so it wont take a basic aluminum pot like the whierly. Does anyone know if there is such a thing for an induction stove top, or perhaps there is a better way for me to enter the world of coffee roasting?

Induction heat trasfer should help when roasting via stovetop because the slower the heat transfer the more control you have with temp changes if need be as well as less scortching of the coffee beans while roasting. Here are the 2 best methods I have used and gotten PERFECT uniform roasted with amazing taste and aroma.

Yes I found that the Tfal was easier (shiffled the beans every 20-30sec). Also a lot easier to clean. The shuffling also aggitated the beans more so I got a better roast. Cleaning was rince and repeat. The whirley POP was a continuous churning of the beans. If the induction turns out to be a problem a 700W portable electric burner works perfect! :)

I wouldn't worry too much about chaff mess from an electric popper. If you use the lid, it's easily directed into a container. Even if you don't use a lid (I don't), it's only going to cover the surface you're roasting on, though it may also get in your hair. It only takes me five seconds to sweep the chaff off the counter I roast on into the trash. More importantly, I think, is what kind of roast you're looking for. An electric popper is going to give you a shorter, brighter roast, while the stovetop will tend to produce something smoother and fuller-bodied, but probably less even.

Hi Lee_MWhen I buy beans I tend to stick to a light to a medium roast because I find that the flavor of the beans come out more that way. In my opinion, the body of the coffee is based in the the bean and maybe not so much in how dark the roast is, i.e. I can buy a light roast but still have tons of body.

Obviously I am new to roasting (in fact, I have never tried it:)) but are you saying that an electric popper is a quicker and hence influence how the coffee comes out (body, aroma, flavor)? When you say brighter roast, do you mean a lighter roast or a brighter body?

I'd like to second that chaff shouldn't really be a problem. What I do is put a casserole dish/pan filled with a tiny bit of water out in front of the popper. The popper blows the vast majority of the chaff into the pan, the chaff then gets stuck in the water. Whatever is left over I just vacuum up. Chaff is so light that a vacuum easily sucks it up from quite a distance.

Also, there are certain beans that produce hardly any chaff at all. I roasted Malabar the other day and there was almost no chaff.

Definitely try home roasting, but I think a popper would be easier than using a pot on the stove (although truthfully I've only used a popper so I can't be sure).

Not sure if it's come up in your reading, but if you're concerned about covering your floor with chaff (which you won't), you may also want to consider how the smoke/smell may impact your apartment. If you have a good exhaust fan, you should be fine, but your apartment may start to smell like a roastery after not too long. It's not the worst thing in the world, in my opinion, but my wife may not agree.

For what it's worth, when I was an apartment-dweller I roasted on my balcony with a whirly pop and a camp stove and was pleased with the results.

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